Mention of Bremer's consideration of Nixon as a target for assassination earlier, before his attempt on Wallace, ledme to search the archives, but I found no threads, surprisingly, about this possibility.
It's really a wide-open one. Suddenly, Democrats might jump in to oppose McGovern, who seemed pretty unelectable. Does Humphrey try to pull for some support at the convention?
On the Republican side, Nixon wsa grooming John Connally, but the man was a Democrat still - in fact, might Connally even be the Democratic nominee, in an effort to "bring the nation together after 9 years of horrible assassinations." (JFK, King, RJK, now Nixon.)
Or, would Republicans consider him anyway, deciding Agnew can't cut it as President? With a conference presumably already scheduled witht he Soviets for May of 1972, Agnew's performance there might be what makes or breaks his possible candidacy. Or, maybe news of his tax evasion comes out earlier, in an attempt to discredit him and get someone else to run. (Perhaps he is even told, "Look, don't try to run again, and we'll keep this hushed up. But if you do run...")
Or, might someone other than Agnew or Connally get the Republican nod?
If Agnew gets it and wins, who is his VP? The man will likely be President very soon after, as it'll be hard to keep Agnew's scandal under wraps.
Personally, I think McGovern's campaign had too many problems. He was too far left. but, I think the Democrats would know this, and someone - like Humphre - could emerge. Maybe even Scoopy Jackson? April is a little late, and I don't know how big of a lead McGovern had by this point.
On the other hand, I think Agnew *could* win; the meeting with the Soviets would be a key. I don't know how he'd handle it. I think he'd have some hurdles to climb, and he'd need some help. Picking Connally as VP would rock the boat too much, I don't know who he'd choose. But, that threat of the charges coming out would really cause problems, and it's possible he could choose to stand aside 'for the good of the Party." I'm just not sure if it would come out that soon.I think an Agnew win is plausible; but, a lot of things are at this point.